Relocating plex server windows 10 to windows 11 home

Plex Media Server
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1

Server Version#: 4.69.1
Player Version#: 4.77.3

Hello everyone,

this is my first post to the forum so i apologize if i make any mistakes.

Server Version#: 4.69.1
Player Version#: 4.77.3
server hardware: Asus Laptop E410MAB (brand new, bought 24 hours ago)
laptop OS: windows 11 home, version 21H2

Ive been using plex for a few years now, and overall its been great. I had my server set up on an older laptop (like, bought for college in 2011 old). The hard drive on that laptop suddenly and completely crashed last week. All of my media is stored on a external hard drive, and i can see that all of that is there and unharmed. I have since bought a new laptop to be used for plex and nothing but plex. However, i cant seem to figure out how to get my server back online, let alone begin remapping my directories to get my plex up and running again. Ive spent roughly 8 hours searching and trying different methods, ive searched the forums, and maybe im a bit more inexperienced than i thought because ive had zero luck. It seems that all of the guides i have found require the old server to be up and running

Is there someone thats willing to help me through this?
Do i need to build a new server and reload everything? if i do, will i have to re-share my libraries, and will the new server remember my watched/unwatched history?

I am grateful in advanced for any and all help!

2

Moving your setup from one server to a new one should be fairly easy while you’re remaining in the same platform/environment (e.g. Windows → Windows).

3

thanks for the response @tom80H !

Unless im reading the referenced article incorrectly (a very real possibility), that method requires both the source (laptop the server was previously running on) and the destination (new laptop) to work correctly. Unfortunately my source (previous laptop) is completely dead and will not boot up at all no matter what i try.

4

In that case your best shot is to see if you can still get the old laptop’s drive to spill some of its data if connected to your new server. If that’s not working, you’ll indeed be left with starting your new server from scratch.

When you setup your new server, make sure to connect to the new machine’s local IP address from within your home network (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:32400/web if you’re working on the same machine; http://[PMS IP address]:32400/web otherwise). This should bring up the dialog/wizard to finish the setup and allow you to recreate your libraries.

5

To add to above, if there is no hope in saving old HD and you still see your old server on your account, then you can remove it at https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/devices/pms